White short-sleeved shirt,
with shadow pin-stripes. Navy blue winged collar. Three navy blue lions
on a white button fastener, on a thick red rectangular insert beneath
the neck, adjoining an overlapping thick navy blue rectangular insert,
with an English flag on a small tag. Navy blue rectangular panel, edged
with a red stripe down each side, on lower outer sleeves. An inner red
shard and an outer navy blue shard beginning at armpit and running down
each side of chest, separated by a thin white stripe. Embroidered
emblem, with light-blue lions, in centre of chest, with navy blue registered
trademark underneath left-hand side of emblem, 'ENGLAND' in capitalised
navy blue lettering below it and 'UMBRO' in large capitalised navy blue
lettering above it. Red number, with navy blue border, on reverse and in
the centre of the chest, beneath the emblem, in same font as previous
England shirts.

Long navy blue shorts, with
navy blue drawstring. An inner red shard and an outer white shard
running down lower front side of each seam, separated by a thin navy
blue stripe. 'UMBRO'
in large capitalised white lettering on left thigh. Embroidered emblem on
right thigh, with white registered trademark underneath left-hand side
of emblem and 'ENGLAND' in capitalised white lettering below it. White
number, with red border in the same font as on the shirt, above the
emblem on right thigh.

White socks, with
navy blue turnover, two red hoops across each. Navy blue emblem on front
of each sock, with 'ENGLAND' in capitalised navy blue lettering below it
and 'UMBRO' in large capitalised navy blue lettering beneath.

Variations

A long-sleeved
version of the shirt was also worn. The cuffs were navy blue, with
a white stripe near the edge and there were no panels on the sleeves.

For the two games
played in the 1997 Tournoi de France and the three games in the 1998 World
Cup tournament, the player's surname was printed in an arc in capitalised
red lettering, with a navy blue border, above the number on the reverse of
the shirt.

Against Moldova,
England wore black ribbons on the left breast, in memory of Diana, Princess
of Wales, who had been killed in a car crash, ten days previously.

For the games played
in the 1998 World Cup tournament, 'FIFA WORLD CUP FRANCE 1998' was displayed in navy blue directly above the number on the chest.

Michael Owen, England's
youngest debutant of the 20th century, went on to win 89 caps.

Rio Ferdinand, who won his
first cap at 19 years old, went on to make 81 appearances, whilst Paul Scholes
picked up 66 caps in his international career.

All four of Dion Dublin's
international appearances were in this shirt.

9 players signed off their
international careers in this uniform. For Paul Gascoigne, it was a big
surprise as he was left out of the 1998 World Cup squad, having just won
his 57th cap, and he was never selected again.

Ian Wright, who was 27 when
he won his first cap, won his 33rd and last cap at the age of 35 in
Glenn Hoddle's last match as England's coach.

Howard Wilkinson was in
charge for England's last match in this uniform, and he recalled Lee
Dixon for his 22nd and last cap, after the full-back had been overlooked
throughout the tenures of both Terry Venables and Hoddle.

Top Scorers

8 -
Alan Shearer (1 Pen.)

4 - Michael Owen, Paul
Scholes, Teddy Sheringham, Ian Wright

Shearer had also been top
scorer in the 1995 white shirt, again including a penalty.

Four players scored their
first England goal in this shirt.

Michael Owen became
England's youngest ever goalscorer when he notched the only goal of the
game against Morocco in Casablanca. He followed this up by becoming his
country's youngest World Cup scorer with a very timely equaliser as a
substitute against Romania.

Paul Gascoigne was one of
five players to score his last England goal in this shirt. In
Gascoigne's case, it was his tenth, with Ian Wright getting his ninth,
and Darren Anderton, his seventh.

Captains

12 - Alan
Shearer

4 - Paul
Ince

2 - Tony
Adams, Sol Campbell

1 -
Stuart Pearce

Campbell, Ince and Pearce
all captained England for the last time.

Goalkeeper, David Seaman was
captain for the remaining game, against Moldova.

England wore this Umbro strip, as singularly
unattractive as the companion away uniform, in three of their four matches at
the World Cup 1998 final tournament in France, although in the last of those
three matches, the round of 16 clash with Argentina, they wore all white,
substituting the white shorts from the
away uniform for the navy blue shorts of
the home uniform.

The colour of the three lions in the emblem was changed
from the traditional navy blue to a light blue. The navy blue lions,
however, reappeared on the
next home white shirt in
1999.

Like the
1995 home white and
1996
away blue shirts, this jersey sported the manufacturer's name in
large, capitalised letters above the three-lions emblem in the middle of the
shirt, although, as on the 1996 away blue shirt, the team name also appeared in smaller capitalised
letters below the emblem. Still, a stranger to football might conclude
it was the Umbro team's jersey.

The uniform was launched in a massive qualification
match against Italy, a game which provided Glenn Hoddle's England with its first
real test, a test that was failed when England crashed to a first ever World Cup
home defeat. Nonetheless, England buckled down and picked up the points against
the minnows of the group, whilst Italy lost their advantage. On a dramatic
evening in Rome's Stadio Olimpico, a brave England performance saw them hold the
Italians to a goalless draw and secure their passage to France.

England's defeat on penalties to Argentina was a
frustratingly early exit and things went from bad to worse when they dropped
crucial European Championship points at the start of the following season. By
the time England met the World Champions in the uniform's last appearance,
Hoddle had been replaced at the helm.

Two months after this kit was worn by the full
international team for the last time, the Under-18 squad wore it in the World
Youth Championships in Nigeria. The game against Japan on 11 April 1999 was the
last time that an intermediate squad wore scrolls bearing the word 'YOUTH'
underneath the emblem. Thanks to Simon Shakeshaft for sharing his research into
this.